How Much Money Can You Make as a Freelance Livestreamer?
You do not need a pre-existing following to make money as a live streamer. But can the money you make pay your bills?
Summary: This article will detail the company, my experience, the potential earnings, your privacy, the pros and cons, and the potential future of live streaming as a source of income.
Job Posting: Freelance Live Streamer
I immediately clicked the LinkedIn ‘Easy Apply’ button. Sure, I had zero experience with live streaming on any platform, but I had a strong YouTube background with a few loyal viewers. Surely, I would impress someone in HR.
Within the day, I received a direct message from the company account seeking a one-on-one interview which later developed into a group interview. I wasn’t a fan of meeting my competition over a massive Zoom call since I already had anxiety with any virtual video chat, but I didn’t back out.
In true Lesley fashion, I decided to research the company after having applied for a position. The company was called City Explorer LIVE.
City Explorer is a LIVE media startup company based in London, UK, which turns everyday civilians into live streamers, otherwise known as “Explorers.” Seeking raw, journalistic content, City Explorer lets you stream on-foot, from your car or motorbike, or a drone while geotagging your location. To help their Explorers, the company has designated Video Coaches to watch your streams in real-time, provide advice on how to make them better, and rate your streams. (We’ll discuss ratings later on as this will determine your payout.)
Almost anything goes as long as you are moving and commentating throughout the stream because static shots lose viewers. You can point the camera toward you and treat it like a vlog or talk behind the camera; however, you should be discussing the location rather than your morning routine.
The quality of your streams matter as they directly affect your potential earnings. You must produce high-quality audio and visuals, carry the stream with your commentary, and surpass the 10-minute duration mark. (Video coaches have the ability to disable your live stream, but they would only do this in dire situations.)
Registration is free and only takes 10 minutes to complete. You do not need to input your social media following count.
There aren’t any posted criteria on what can get you rejected from the signup process at this time; but, you are required to provide the right live streaming equipment. You need a mobile device, GoPro, or drone to connect to their server.
Once you are accepted, you will attend a virtual information session. (Going back to my application process, this was my apparent “group interview.” I wish they had been upfront about that.) So, instead of pondering your strengths and weaknesses, write down your questions because… CONGRATS! You already got the position!
As you continue reading, do keep in mind that City Explorer is a startup, so they could make changes by tomorrow. I will post the necessary updates.
If you wish to come along with me on my live streaming journey, I embedded my City Explorer review video. Don’t you want to tour Downtown Dallas with me?
I used my iPhone X, a plug-in mic, and a small handheld weighted tripod from Amazon.
My Personal Experience
Ok, so you decided to not watch my vlog…tisk, tisk…I guess that I will provide you a rundown of my experience. Don’t care? Keep scrolling to learn about the MoNeY!
I started with a practice session on a bridge that stretched across 635, a huge 6-lane highway that circles Dallas county. The cars were so loud that I feared nobody could hear my voice as I delivered an intro, several updates, and an outro. I was wrong….so wrong. Not only could viewers hear me perfectly fine, but they could also listen to my personal conversation that I was having with my mother. Truly embarrassing! Nonetheless, the Video Coach approved my live stream, so I did earn [very little] points.
The next time, I ventured to Downtown Dallas and paid $7 for parking. I printed out information on certain landmarks, so I had something to talk about with my viewers. I live-streamed several times and made sure each broadcast lasted over 10 minutes. The entire process took 2–3 hours.
I personally enjoyed the live stream experience since I love to hear myself talk. (As I said, I’m a YouTuber!) My main goal was to crank out live stream after live stream, but that gave me little time to personally enjoy the sites, walk around at my own pace, and enjoy my mother’s company.
I felt like my live stream content wasn’t nearly as interesting as my YouTube videos. History buffs probably would opt for reading articles and viewing Google images on their own accord than keep up with me on foot. Some parts were spent waiting at crosswalks and rambling a whole lot about nothing.
When I arrived home, my ratings were available to view in my City Explorer dashboard, and they were utmost unimpressive. A Video Coach had messaged me feedback through WhatsApp, a texting app, and told me that my camera movements were shaky and caused major point deductions. (Live streams are reliant on nearby bandwidth and are pixelated in general, so subtle movements are huge distractions.) Sadly, my weighted tripod did not offer me enough stability and tainted all of my day’s work.
I was going to have to invest in a camera stabilizer with my own money if I wanted better ratings. The cheapest camera stabilizer that I could find was $85 on Amazon. I almost bought the product because I was a YouTuber who could use it for future videos and write it off as a business expense, but I really didn’t have $85 to spend at the moment.
By the end of the week, I earned under 5 euros, which didn’t reach the minimum PayPal amount. So my take-home pay was $0. I still owed an extra $7 on my credit card for parking. I felt defeated.
(Update: They have sent internal updates to Explorers. Click here to read my part two to learn about their new direction.)
How Much Money Can You Make
City Explorer sets aside a “Weekly Pot” of money for their Explorers to earn each week. (I joined when their Weekly Pot was at 700 euros, but they stated that this would increase when they accumulate more investors.) The weekly pot is not divided into equal distribution to all Explorers who were active in the week. The payout depends on points.
You have 7 days to accumulate points starting on Monday all the way to Sunday, which is the cut-off day. Your dashboard reveals your payout the next day (Monday), and then you should receive your earnings via PayPal the following day (Tuesday). Receiving a weekly payout is a big benefit since most companies pay every 2 weeks.
Each live stream has the potential to earn you 20 points that a Video Coach will determine. They consider your visual and audio quality, entertainment value, and stream duration. (All of these attributes are subjective.) There is no fixed calculation that 1 point warrants you a certain amount of euros. Your payout depends on the ratio of your points against everyone else’s points.
Here’s a simplified example. Let’s say you and 4 other people are the only Explorers actively live streaming this week and vying for a Weekly Pot of 1,000 euros. You accrue an impressive 100 points, but that doesn’t mean you will take home 100 euros because 100 is 10% of 1,000. We need to look at your point amount versus your competition.
If everyone else earned 50 points each, all 5 of you would have a total of 300 points. Since you make up 100 of the 300 points, your take-home pay would be 333 euros. This means you earned 33% of the Weekly Pot.
But what if everyone else was actually more proactive than you and earned 300 points each? This means all 5 of you totaled 1,200 points. So your 100 out of 1,200 points would be less than a 10% slice of the Weekly Pot pie.
However, City Explorer has way more than just 5 Explorers, which makes the competition brutal. You can track your potential earnings on your dashboard as points usually get added within 1 business day. Your projected payout you see on Monday will be a lot less on Friday as Explorers continue to stream throughout the week.
You must earn at least 5 euros per week to receive payment because PayPal does have a minimum money transfer requirement. City Explorer LIVE does not offer any other form of payment nor does it roll over earnings into the next week. This means that you could potentially put in the work with no pay.
The euro holds more value than a lot of other currencies, including the U.S. dollar. So, if I did earn 5 euros, I would get more than $5.
You can collect guaranteed bonus money if you stream a certain amount of minutes. (When I joined the platform, you needed at least 200 streaming minutes to earn the first bonus.) This money is still taken from the weekly pot, so earning the bonus will reduce the possible earnings of others. I’ve seen Explorers accumulate over 1,000 stream minutes (about 16 hours). I could never!
You do not make money based on how many people watch your streams or if you market your streams on personal social media accounts. I find it refreshing that a media company does not revolve around follower count. (So many businesses chase the money and play favorites that regular individuals no longer want to get involved.) If their mission is to show off average city life and get true journalistic content, they should continue this practice.
I do wish there was an added opportunity for ALL Explorers to make extra money by posting about City Explorer to their personal platforms. The company needs all the shoutouts it can get! Should they implement this, I hope this money comes from outside the Weekly Pot.
Issues with Privacy
You never have total control of what you share during a live stream. You may say the wrong thing, another person interferes, you reveal your address… there is a lot that can go wrong.
City Explorer does not permit you to live stream from your living quarters. They recommend that you also avoid streaming from nearby locations, your school, and your workplace. As a backup, Video Coaches are trained to identify privacy violations and terminate your stream.
At this time, not many people are visiting the City Explorer website and catching your stream in realtime. And if somebody is viewing your stream, they are most likely somewhere else in the world choosing to watch you out of curiosity. This does not mean you can be careless.
As a rule, I wouldn’t announce your live streaming locations ahead of time. You don’t want to give someone the time to plan out a surprise visit.
Is Becoming a Freelance Live Streamer for City Explorer Worth It?
Overall, live streaming for City Explorer is NOT worth your time or the money at this point in time.
There are definite positives about this position: You get outside of your house, explore your city, fine-tune your news anchor skills, and get mentored by a video coach. You do set your own hours, but most side hustles are already like that.
Eventually, I hope another perk would be the chance to market yourself on another platform. Show off that cute face and personality! But at the moment, the City Explorer website does not receive enough traffic for you to expect any grand following.
This freelance gig may pay off if you already commute for work or explore often. I wouldn’t record my routes, but I might take advantage of nearby parks or natural scenery. However, if I was already working a traditional job, I would want to relax with my cats or find another more lucrative side hustle.
As I mentioned earlier, I didn’t have time to enjoy my surroundings or socialize. I had to give full attention to the live stream, making sure the camera angles were good while dodging traffic. I think most individuals prefer to multitask these days.
If you live stream from your phone, you cannot access your phone to text/call, use GPS, vlog, or play games during your stream. But then again, you should be passing the time by talking to your viewers. Welcome to the show that never ends! (Make sure to bring external chargers, so your phone battery won’t die and put you in danger.)
Honestly, a part of me wants to stick my phone on a tripod, start a stream, and walk away. Since stream duration affects your rating and bonus money, I could still potentially end the week with pay. Yes, this counters the advice of my Video Coaches, so I’m unsure how much trouble this would get me in; but, I’d rather do that and read a book.
Today, you would need to commit 15+ hours to see a good chunk of money and even that wouldn’t be a fair wage. If City Explorer could offer its Explorers a guaranteed $100 a week in exchange for a reasonable amount of live streams, then Explorers would have reason to stay active. This may mean City Explorers have to limit their Explorers and require a vetting process. I hate to regulate the hiring process, but something’s got to give to impress investors.
I do not believe in supporting companies that can’t properly pay their employees, but I’m not going to write off City Explorer yet as they try to figure this out. I’m rooting for them!
(Update: City Explorer is planning to pivot their live-streaming platform. Read up on part two HERE to learn more about their recent announcements.)
What are your thoughts on City Explorer? How could this company and other live-broadcasting companies evolve to become successful while paying their creators fairly? I’d love to discuss this with you in the comment section.
